Foxe - The Book of Martyrs

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
time of Constantine the Great. The edifice, being destroyed in the Saxon wars, was rebuilt by
Offa, king of Mercia, and a monastery erected adjoining to it, some remains of which are still
visible, and the church is a noble Gothic structure.
Faith, a Christian female, of Acquitain, in France, was ordered to be broiled upon a
gridiron, and then beheaded; A.D. 287.
Quintin was a Christian, and a native of Rome, but determined to attempt the propagation
of the Gospel in Gaul, with one Lucian, they preached together in Amiens; after which Lucian
went to Beaumaris, where he was martyred. Quintin remained in Picardy, and was very
zealous in his ministry. Being seized upon as a Christian, he was stretched with pullies until
his joints were dislocated; his body was then torn with wire scourges, and boiling oil and pitch
poured on his naked flesh; lighted torches were applied to his sides and armpits; and after he
had been thus tortured, he was remanded back to prison, and died of the barbarities he had
suffered, October 31, A.D. 287. His body was sunk in the Somme.
The Tenth Persecution, Under Diocletian, A.D. 303
Under the Roman emperors, commonly called the Era of the Martyrs, was occasioned
partly by the increasing number and luxury of the Christians, and the hatred of Galerius, the
adopted son of Diocletian, who, being stimulated by his mother, a bigoted pagan, never ceased
persuading the emperor to enter upon the persecution, until he had accomplished his purpose.
The fatal day fixed upon to commence the bloody work, was the twenty-third of February,
A.D. 303, that being the day in which the Terminalia were celebrated, and on which, as the
cruel pagans boasted, they hoped to put a termination to Christianity. On the appointed day,
the persecution began in Nicomedia, on the morning of which the prefect of that city repaired,
with a great number of officers and assistants, to the church of the Christians, where, having
forced open the doors, they seized upon all the sacred books, and committed them to the
flames.
The whole of this transaction was in the presence of Diocletian and Galerius, who, not
contented with burning the books, had the church levelled with the ground. This was followed
by a severe edict, commanding the destruction of all other Christian churches and books; and
an order soon succeeded, to render Christians of all denomination outlaws.
The publication of this edict occasioned an immediate martyrdom, for a bold Christian
not only tore it down from the place to which it was affixed, but execrated the name of the
emperor for his injustice. A provocation like this was sufficient to call down pagan vengeance
upon his head; he was accordingly seized, severely tortured, and then burned alive.
All the Christians were apprehended and imprisoned; and Galerius privately ordered the
imperial palace to be set on fire, that the Christians might be charged as the incendiaries, and
a plausible pretence given for carrying on the persecution with the greater severities. A general
sacrifice was commenced, which occasioned various martyrdoms. No distinction was made
of age or sex; the name of Christian was so obnoxious to the pagans that all indiscriminately
fell sacrifices to their opinions. Many houses were set on fire, and whole Christian families
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